Coral Wynter, Caracas
Venezuelan political activist Miguel Laffe and three friends, members of the Communist Party Youth of Venezuela, were invited by the Farabundi Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) to be international observers of the March 12 presidential elections in El Salvador. The three friends were musicians, who had been invited to sing revolutionary songs at pre-election meetings.
Laffe explained, "We arrived at San Salvador airport on the Saturday, a week before the elections, without any problems and entered the queue for immigration. An immigration police official separated all four of us out from the line. I should explain that you don't need a visa to enter El Salvador, if you are Venezuelan, being a tourist or possession of an invitation is sufficient.
"It felt very uncomfortable, because there was no reason for them to do it. We hadn't done anything wrong and it was just because we were Venezuelans. They didn't let us call anyone — the FMLN or even our own diplomatic representative in San Salvador. I bought a $5 telephone card but the first call wasn't successful. When I tried to make a second call, they stopped me.
"They took all of our papers, passport, our invitations, the programs, which were photocopied ad infinitum. They took enough copies to wallpaper every room in their house. We were waiting and waiting and still we were not able to call anyone and no reason was given.
"Finally after an hour, the immigration police said 'Follow me'. I said 'Where to?' He said, 'To the plane', and I said that I am not going on any plane. They said they had the right to refuse entry without saying why. When this started happening I went to the telephone again to make a call. A National Guard said leave that telephone now. I was really worried because they called four security guards to force me away from the phone.
"They pushed us onto a plane. I asked where is our luggage. They didn't answer. We went to Panama, which was on the route of our return ticket. They didn't have any seats on the plane, so we had to sit with the crew. We stayed in the airport as we had no luggage; we had nothing. The immigration police in Panama interviewed us and threatened to imprison us in a cell at the airport. But one of our companeros had a press pass and threatened to invite the press so they let us spend the night free at the airport.
"We arrived back in Caracas at 11pm. The airline director had guaranteed our luggage would arrive on the next plane. They had opened all the bags, gone through everything, our clothes, toiletry and left a total mess. It was all very disagreeable because they never gave us a reason.
"At the San Salvador airport, I saw a North American soldier, walking around the airport, armed. I know from the insignia. Should an armed soldier from another country be permitted to do this?
"We made an official protest to our ambassador in Panama and made all this public, as we were able to contact the FMLN. We made a complaint to our chancellor in Venezuela, who lodged an official protest with the Salvadoran government. Obviously, it was the political policy of the right-wing government, against international observers. Many others were also turned away.
"After our public protests, the El Salvadoran immigration police stopped this policy."
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, April 12, 2006.
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